Hydration that performs at the Lowry

The Lowry is one of the UK’s most celebrated arts venues, welcoming hundreds of dance and performing arts students through the doors each week. At the heart of its busy dance studio, hydration isn’t optional, it’s essential.

Project Overview

The Lowry’s existing water provision was working against it. A dispenser designed for plastic cups, not reusable bottles, with a spout too low and a flow too slow, meant refilling often ended with water on the floor. For a venue committed to sustainability, the infrastructure was actively discouraging the behaviour it wanted to encourage.

The Problem

Demand made it worse. With performers and staff refilling throughout the day, the unit couldn’t maintain the chilled output needed to support a high-energy environment. And with no data connectivity, the Lowry had no way of evidencing what its hydration provision was actually delivering – a missed opportunity for an organisation that takes its ESG commitments seriously.

The problem wasn’t the intention. It was the infrastructure.

The Solution

H₂Origin installed a fully managed, high-capacity hydration station in the Lowry’s dance studio – delivering chilled, filtered water on demand, with real-time data connectivity built in from day one.

Through H₂Origin’s live dashboard, the Lowry now has instant visibility of usage, plastic savings, and CO₂ reduction. The kind of evidenced, quantifiable data that supports ESG reporting and net zero commitments – generated automatically, without any additional burden on the team running the building.

The Result

In ten months, the results have been tangible:

3,332 litres of water dispensed
6,665 single-use 500ml plastic bottles avoided
552 kg of CO₂e avoided
£6,665 saved by students versus buying bottled water

The data is real. Every refill is tracked.

“We needed a solution that could genuinely keep pace with a busy dance studio, not just delivering water, but evidencing the impact of our investment. H₂Origin have done exactly that. We can now see the data in real time, and that’s made a real difference to how we talk about sustainability as an organisation.”

Andrew Logie, Head of Facilities, Lowry

Book your free Hydration Review

Not sure where to start? A hydration review gives you a clear picture of your current water provision: What’s underperforming, what’s costing more than it should, and where a smarter solution could make a measurable difference. One conversation, no obligation, and a straightforward set of recommendations tailored to your estate.

“As a fast-moving research centre, we needed a hydration solution that could meet not only the demands of a team of engineers, but also visitors to our site. The H₂Origin Refills unit hasn’t missed a beat, providing sparkling, room temperature and chilled, clean, premium water whenever it is needed.”